Link , Link , Link , Link , Link , [“I’m sure it helps Trump, but I think it helps the RNC, too,” the GOP donor said, citing the party’s numerous fundraising emails and texts to raise money from small-dollar contributors by raffling off a trip to the dinner. During the years of his presidency, Trump had the RNC and his campaign spend $8.5 million in donor money at his own businesses, according to a HuffPost review of FEC records. That included $639,031 at Mar-a-Lago. In 2018, for example, Trump had the RNC hold an evening dinner and a luncheon the following day at Mar-a-Lago as part of the donor retreat. The party ended up paying him $286,919. Republican candidates and committees outside Trump’s control spent an additional $2 million at his properties during his four years in office, according to the HuffPost review, and that pattern is continuing, notwithstanding Trump’s deep unpopularity in the nation as a whole.]